Summer Stuff: A Wolf and A Bear

I missed blogging about a lot of things this summer, and I'll never catch up. But I have to mention that my boys got their Wolf and Bear badges on the same night. That was cool for them to receive them the same night. Maybe the can do the same for their Webelos and Bear, but I think Tyler will get his Webelos before Zach can turn 9. Zachary is LOVING scouts, and I had to make a rule that he can no longer wake me up in the morning to see what we can work on for scouts. Cute boy wanted to do it first thing in the morning and would wake me up! Sigh ... :)

Way to go, boys!!!

First days of school

Yes, I know school started a month ago. It's been like we're on fast-forward ever since! The weekend after school started we had another yard sale and did just as great as the first one! I couldn't believe it. People LOVED our bake sale (surprising to me, really), and my neighbors came through with some really big donations (telescope, Victorian couch, wingback chair, desk, coffee table, etc). We didn't sell the big items, but we have since sold several of them on KSL.com. In fact, the raft my dad sold actually sold for more than we listed it because we had people fighting over it. Needless to say, we've hopefully got plane tickets covered for my brother and his wife to get to the Lisbon temple open house. But now I'd like to get enough to cover room, board and transportation. Wish us luck! :)

But I digress ... Other things have kept us busy in the last month as well: This year Tyler has an insane amount of homework. Add to that soccer 4 nights a week, cub scouts meetings every week for Wolves (Zach), Bears (Paul and I) and Webelos (Tyler), piano lessons for two, dance lessons for one, work two to three nights a week for one (who still has to be driven around!), community council at the school for one, a Bears backyard carnival at our house, a "licious" party for one, and a Relief Society retreat getaway (LOVED a night away! :) ... well, you can see why I haven't blogged for a bit.

So here I am trying to start back up, and I'll begin with the traditional photos of my kids on their first days of school.

Becca is a senior this year -- I can't believe it! She was in fifth grade when she came to live with us, and it's crazy to think she's already finished junior high and almost high school. She is taking a LOT of art classes, so hopefully she'll learn some great technique and make millions as an artist! (or at least enjoy herself :).

Tyler is in fifth grade. Yes, it is the dreaded year for homework. So far it hasn't killed us, but there are nights when I thought it might. Fortunately his teacher this year is WONDERFUL! I am so happy about that after last year's not-so-great teacher.

Zachary is in third grade. He has two teachers sharing a contract. We haven't done this before, but I think we'll like it. He has one teacher in the morning (the daughter of Becca's principal, actually), and one teacher in the afternoon (Tyler's third-grade teacher). They're both so great that I have no doubts Zachary will love this year.

My boys are still buddies, and I absolutely love that! I remind them all the time about Hyrum and Joseph and how close they were and hope my boys are that kind of brothers to each other.

So Shayla LOVES, LOVES, LOVES kindergarten. And can I just say so do I? :) She tells me more than my boys ever have, which is so stereotypical of them all. She was so excited for her first day, especially since it was a week later than everyone else's first day.

She loved taking pictures so much on the first day that we HAD to do it again the second day. She posed as if she were walking away and then showed off her backpack.

And here's what Austin's up to:

Yes, he's loving life as usual, and I'm loving that he sleeps while Shayla's gone to school. I generally have 2.25 hours from the time Shayla leaves until Becca gets home, and I'm loving some quiet time. Now if only my house would clean itself ... ;)

Thoughts on 9/11

The events the morning of September 11 were horrific. Yet in my life it was a day of sweetness and love. It was my first day home with my first baby, and I was madly in love with the little guy. Paul was back to work for the first time on September 11, and he heard the news on the radio on his way to work. At first he thought the DJ was joking -- they would never ground ALL flights! But then he changed the station and heard the news again. And again. And he knew it was true.

Yet in this national crisis, my husband was still thoughtful and loving. He knew I'd been up several times during the night with a new baby, so instead of calling to tell me the news right away, he let me sleep a while longer before calling. How can I not feel that love when his concern during that huge event was for me? And how could I not look into the face of my newborn baby and just know that God is watching over me completely and that He is love? (In fact, you can look up my post from a few years ago about 9/11 to see that God was truly watching over all His children that day.)

The events were horrific, yet I experienced beauty. No matter what happens in the world, I can still love my children, give them safety and security, and teach them the joys of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. No matter what happens for bad to us as a nation or as individuals, nothing will ever compare with the wonderfully perfect Atonement that was done with unconditional and complete love. Christ stated in one of my favorite scriptures: "... In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)